News

Here is the President's speech to the White House Correspondents' annual dinner at the Washington Hilton last night. He reads from a written text, and performs with the expected aplomb.  Some of his jokes are excellent; some are OK; a few are actually acerbic (and...

From Michiko Kakutani's review in yesterday's New York Times of Presidential Command, the new book by the late Peter W. Rodman of the Nixon Center: Mr. Rodman [argues] that Nixon, not Mr. Bush or Harry S. Truman, “deserves the title of the ‘decider,’ ” and that while...

Brigadoon in the Blue Ridge: the main street of the Shenandoah Valley town of Staunton, Virginia. If Staunton has a sister city, it must be Brigadoon. Who knew that a small burnished gem was hidden quietly away in the Blue Ridge about two hours southwest of...

This afternoon, at a packed Washington National Cathedral, the funeral of all-star AFL quarterback, longtime New York congressman, 1996 Republican vice-presidential candidate, and dedicated economic and social trailblazer Jack Kemp was held. Originally it was planned...

The Real Thing: POW Alex Lees (right) in Stalag Luft III. "I only played a small part.  I did my bit, that's the main thing." If, like me, The Great Escape is in your pantheon of All Time Coolest Movies, you will be saddened to learn of the death of Alex Lees on 22...

Rep. Brad Miller is chairing ill-attended hearings on oversight of the $787 billion stimulus. Reports The Washington Times: "These hearings are titled 'follow the money' after the character in the movie - and the book - 'All the President's Men,' " Mr. Miller said....

"Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." -- Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire Of Louis Napoleon (1851) Most of what Marx said has...

A standing room only crowd was at Barnes & Noble in Prescott Arizona for a book signing by Ed Nixon, the youngest brother of RN. In Friday's addition of the local paper, the Daily Courier; Ed Nixon said that he decided to include Prescott in his book tour as a...

From Bethesda, Maryland tonight comes the news that Jack Kemp, whose career took him from football triumphs with the Buffalo Bills in the 1960s to a highly productive House career in the 1980s to his vice-presidential candidacy alongside Bob Dole in 1996, has died of...